The Fairfax Friendship Garden is looking great! The student garden designers continued to take care of the garden while I was away, and many of the plants have grown a lot. Here’s a peek at the brussel sprouts in one of the boxes.Next up, we would like to work on revitalizing the soil on the ground. We need a border on the downhill end (maybe concrete chunks, bricks or stones), then we need compost and a ton of mulch.

This week the #GreenwayArts Garden Designers filled up 4 garden beds with soil and planted the first new plants in the garden.We planted kale, swiss chard, oregano, basil, spearmint, curry, aloe vera and cabbage! Next week we’ll be planting seeds. Team Work Makes the Dream Work!

Thank you @greenwayartsed for making this part of #MTPfairfax beautiful.

Greenway Institute for the Arts proudly presents the work and accomplishments of Jenny Herrera as our first ever #ARTS THRIVE THURSDAY featured student-artist.

Jenny Herrera is a student at Fairfax Senior High. Currently in her last semester of school, Jenny has experienced art in many forms, including sculpture, photography, painting, and drawing. During her time outside of school, she is constantly thinking of ways to involve art in her everyday life. “Art is more than just a hobby or a talent, it’s everything around us,” she says. She was inspired by her father, Manuel Herrera, who spent his youth drawing cartoons. Her long-term goals involve her artwork, and she hopes one day to apply her talent towards our community using mixed media.

The Melrose Trading Post is a program of a non-profit organization, Greenway Arts Alliance. Greenway not only created MTP, but also created the Greenway Court Theatre on Fairfax Avenue. GCT is a professional 99-seat theatre, and Greenway Arts is proud to present its next show, Swarm Cell.

SWARM CELL

Written by Gabriel Rivas Gomez

Directed by Robert Castro

Are you a queen or one of the worker bees?

Twenty-five years into the future: in desperate need of shelter, a pair of homeless women discover themselves forging an unlikely alliance. In an economy turned on its head, the duo – one deaf, the other pregnant and undocumented – find work in a questionable warehouse intent on preying upon its roustabouts. This cohort of migrants are conditioned to believe the commodities they package hold more value than their own lives. Devising a hive may be their only hope for survival.

Inspired by John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the premiere of SWARM CELL – written by Gabriel Rivas Gomez and directed by Robert Castro – asserts a brave new world of womanhood and identity.

A Note From LAUSD:

Use of the school premises for the Melrose Trading Post market has been granted pursuant to the provisions of Sections 17400, et seq., of the Education Code of the State of California to Greenway Arts Alliance from the Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District. LA Unified and the Board of Education does not sponsor or take responsibility, nor does it endorse any of the activities, statements or opinions which may be expressed at this meeting/activity.